Knight Foundation invests $350,000 to engage more people around community issues
A traveling pop-up public space showcasing the ideas of diverse Charlotte neighborhoods will launch as part of a project led by the College of Arts + Architecture at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with $350,000 from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
The Mobile Arts & Community Experience will be unveiled on Friday, April 10, in a free public celebration from 5-7 p.m. on Levine Avenue for the Arts. A “MAX Family Day” will follow on Saturday, April 11, from 11-2 p.m.
The Mobile Arts & Community Experience is designed and built in partnership with Boxman Studios, a Charlotte-based company specializing in transforming shipping containers. It is designed as a hybrid performance venue and community gathering space that will be able to accommodate everything from performances and exhibits, to neighborhood association meetings and educational displays. The pop-up space will enliven neighborhoods, parks, festivals and other events with arts and activities that reflect Charlotte’s growing diversity.
“Increasingly people are looking for fast, fun ways to bring positive change to their communities,” said Susan Patterson, Knight Foundation program director in Charlotte. “The pop-up space will invite residents to engage around arts and community issues, while allowing them to co-create ideas to make their city better and encourage deeper connections.”
The College of Arts + Architecture and two university action-based research centers, the City.Building.Lab. and the Charlotte Action Research Project, will collaborate on programming. Additionally, the research centers will build on their existing relationships in Charlotte communities to draw in participants. The pop-up may move each weekend or plan longer stays in specific neighborhoods such as Reid Park, where it is scheduled to open this fall for its initial neighborhood residency.
“The College of Arts + Architecture maintains a mission committed to preparing future cultural and community leaders who value how important the arts are to all people, wherever they live,” said Ken Lambla, dean of the College of Arts + Architecture. “To engage the vision that the arts are a critical part of all neighborhoods, we have undertaken to design and build a magnet for engaging the local, the unpolished, the hybrid ways in which people express their inherent creative spirit. Our mission is committed to helping our neighbors to connect to the larger cultural landscape by design rather than happenstance.”
The project will also include partners across the arts, cultural, government and education sectors with the aim of drawing diverse communities and neighborhoods together and providing communities and their leaders with a chance to contribute. It will allow an open forum for artists and other groups to enrich the culture of the city and contribute to civic life.
Support for these projects forms part of Knight Foundation’s efforts in Charlotte to attract and keep talented people, expand economic opportunity and create a culture of engagement. Knight has also invested in a vision plan to re-energize uptown Charlotte’s North Tryon corridor, and recently supported Foundation for the Carolinas’ efforts to revitalize the historic Carolina Theatre at Belk Place.
Presented by Charlotte Center City Partners, the launch of the Mobile Arts & Community Experience on Friday, April 10, will include live music and performances by cirque artists, parkour tumblers, musicians, and students from the UNC Charlotte Department of Theatre. On Saturday, the theatre department will present a performance of “The Life of That Little Scoundrel Named Lazarillo.” Based on a Spanish Renaissance novella, this contemporary commedia chronicles the life of a young rogue named Lazaro, who survives by means of clever tricks, deceiving his many masters along the way. Music by the UNC Charlotte Student Jazz Combo will follow.
All events are free. For more information, visit arts.uncc.edu.
About University of North Carolina at Charlotte College of Arts + Architecture
Established in 2008, the College of Arts + Architecture represents nearly 1,000 students and more than 100 full-time faculty members in five creative disciplines: art and art history, architecture, dance, music, and theater. Dedicated to interdisciplinary conversation, collaboration and innovation, the College of Arts + Architecture demonstrates UNC Charlotte’s commitment to arts and culture on campus and in the broader community. The College presents exhibitions, lectures and nearly 100 performances each year. For more information, please visit www.coaa.uncc.edu.
About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. We believe that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more information, please visit knightfoundation.org.